Financial Times Highlights Batistas Cozying Up to President Lula during Desperate, Unsuccessful Bid for Power in America
New York, NY (June 7, 2024) – On June 6, the Financial Times published an article titled, “The judge behind the drive to bury Latin America’s biggest corruption probe,” spotlighting the public return of JBS owners Joesley and Wesley Batista after their central role in 2017’s “Operation Car Wash,” the largest corruption scandal in Brazil’s history – and how officials under Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attempt to erase their history of widespread bribery and criminal activity. The article paints a disturbing picture of the Batistas and how they are being propped up by the Brazilian government in their quest for global power as JBS pursues an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.
Financial Times: The judge behind the drive to bury Latin America’s biggest corruption probe
“Seated on either side of the president at the May meeting [chaired by President Lula] in Brasília were Joesley and Wesley Batista, the billionaire brothers behind meatpacking giant JBS who had admitted to paying multimillion-dollar bribes during the high-profile Lava Jato – or “Car Wash” – corruption scandal.
“For many, their very public return to the fold underlines how comprehensively the legacy of the long-running Car Wash investigation is being erased following Lula’s return last year to the presidency for his third, non-consecutive term.”
“Yesterday’s piece in the Financial Times showcases the widespread, ongoing ramifications of the Batista brothers’ rampant corruption scheme and their desperate bid for power as their IPO plans continue to falter in the United States,” said Kimberly Spell, Executive Director of Ban the Batistas. “While Brazil’s government and legal system may fail to hold JBS and the Batistas accountable, having whitewashed their criminal activities, flaunting them in high-level government meetings, and watching as they muscled their way back to JBS’s board of directors, the U.S. won’t allow their grift within America’s agricultural and financial markets.”
The Batista brothers, who own nearly half of JBS’s 2.2 billion shares, were recently elected to JBS’s board despite failing to win support from owners of a majority of shares they do not control. In that election, a majority of non-Batista shares either cast votes against their elections or withheld their support by abstaining. The Financial Times underscored the lack of public support of JBS and Brazil’s efforts to sweep their corruption under the rug, with Carlos Pereira of the Getulio Vargas Foundation highlighting the Brazilian Supreme Court’s “remarkably low” public image: “They generate disappointment, cynicism, disdain for politics itself — that powerful people always get away with it.”
“We continue to call on U.S. officials to watch what’s happening and act – by blocking JBS’s IPO and showing we won’t bend to the corrupt, corporate Batista bullies,” Spell said.
About Ban the Batistas
Ban the Batistas is an advocacy group fighting to protect American farmers, ranchers, consumers, and investors from the risks of a U.S. stock listing by JBS S.A. and the unchecked power grab by its majority shareholders, brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista. Learn more at www.banthebatistas.com.
